Landscaping Contractor on the Long Beach Peninsula
Yards out here take a beating. Here is what it actually takes to make one grow and stay looking good.
Your grass thins out and moss takes over. A corner of the yard turns to standing water every winter and never fully dries. The plants you put in last spring browned off on the side facing the wind. Sandy soil drains so fast that nothing holds moisture through the summer dry stretch. Owning property on the coast means fighting all of that at once, and a crew that treats your yard like an inland lot will lose that fight every time.
Christensen Coastal Construction is the landscaping contractor property owners across the Long Beach Peninsula call for design, installation, drainage, and ongoing care. We are based in Ocean Park, we run our own crew, and we know what salt air, wind, sand, and wet winters do to a yard. Whether you want a full landscape designed from scratch or a tired property brought back to life, we start with the conditions your land actually deals with, not a template.
Call (564) 544-4428 for a free, no-obligation estimate.
Landscaping That Works With the Coast
Landscape Design Built for the Coast
Most yard work is about keeping what you have tidy. Landscape design is about deciding what should go where in the first place, and on the Peninsula that decision is everything. Put the wrong plant in the wrong spot out here and it browns off, rots at the roots, or gets shredded by the first big blow. Get the plan right and the yard practically takes care of itself.
Landscape design is a service on its own, separate from the install and the upkeep. It is the up-front planning that a bigger project should start with. Here is what that looks like when we do it.
Site planning and layout. We walk the property and read it: sun and shade, where the wind hits hardest, how water moves across the ground, where the sand drains fast and where it stays soggy. Then we lay out zones for lawn, beds, outdoor living, screening, and access that work with those conditions instead of against them.
Coastal plant selection. We match plants to each micro-zone of your property. Salt-hardy species on the seaward edge, moisture-lovers in the wet spots, drought-tolerant plants on the fast-draining sand. Chosen for year-round structure, screening, and low upkeep.
Hardscape design. We design patios, walkways, retaining walls, and driveways so they fit the layout, the grade, and the coastal exposure, not just dropped in wherever there is room.
Drainage and grading plans. On a wet coastal property this is the most important part of the plan. We work out how water should move across the ground before any dirt is turned, so the finished yard drains instead of flooding.
What you get is a real plan you can act on: a concept for the property, a plant list suited to your site, a spec for any hardscape, and a phased plan so you can build it all at once or a piece at a time. Brian is happy to walk you through it and adjust until it fits how you actually want to use your land. Then, if you want, the same crew that drew the plan builds it and maintains it.
The Landscaping Work We Handle
Design is where a project starts. From there we build and maintain what we design. Here is the range of work we handle on the Peninsula.
Landscape Design
Site planning, coastal plant selection, hardscape layout, and drainage plans, delivered as a plan you can build in stages or all at once. The front-of-funnel service that the rest of this list flows out of.
Lawn Care and Maintenance
Mowing, edging, feeding, aeration, overseeding, and moss control on a schedule. Sandy coastal soil leaches nutrients fast, so lawns here need more attention than an inland yard to stay thick instead of thin and mossy. We keep it up year round, which suits owners who are not here every week to do it themselves.
Planting and Garden Beds
Beds, borders, and foundation plantings built around plants that can take the site. Native and pollinator-friendly options that shrug off salt and wind, mulch to hold moisture in fast-draining sand, and soil amendment or raised beds to build fertility where the ground is poor.
Trees, Shrubs, Hedges, and Windbreaks
Pruning, planting, and removal, plus living windbreaks and privacy hedges built for exposed lots. A porous living screen slows coastal wind better than a solid fence, which just creates a rough patch of turbulence behind it. We layer tough evergreens on the windward side to shelter the softer plants behind them.
Hardscape
Patios, walkways, retaining walls, gravel driveways, and clean edges. Hard surfaces stay usable when the lawn is soggy for months, gravel drains well in the wet season, and retaining walls hold grade and stop erosion on sandy or sloped lots.
Drainage and Water Management
French drains, catch basins, channel drains, grading, and rain gardens that move standing water away from your house and yard. This is the signature coastal need, and it is where a lot of local yards are failing. We fix the water problem first, because nothing else in the yard holds up if the ground stays wet.
Seasonal Cleanup and Storm Cleanup
Spring and fall resets, leaf and yard-waste hauling, brush clearing, and cleanup after the windstorms that roll in off the Pacific. We clear downed limbs and debris and get the property back in shape.
Built for Coastal Conditions
Anywhere else, landscaping is mostly about design taste and a mowing schedule. Out here it is a fight against four things at once, and a crew that does not plan for all four will watch the yard fail.
Salt air. Salt-laden spray browns and drops foliage, sometimes only on the side facing the water, and salt in the soil blocks roots from taking up water. Salt-sensitive plants near open coast simply do not make it. We choose salt-hardy species from the start and use tough plants as a buffer to shelter the softer ones behind them.
Wind. Strong, frequent, salt-carrying wind shreds leaves, dries plants out, and topples anything top-heavy. We answer it with porous living windbreaks and layered plantings, not a solid fence that only makes the turbulence worse.
Sandy soil. Peninsula soil is largely sand. It drains and warms fast, but it leaches water and nutrients just as fast, so plants get stressed in a dry spell and need feeding more often. We build fertility in with compost and organic matter, mulch to hold moisture, and use raised beds where it makes sense.
Winter wet. This is one of the wettest stretches of the country, and flat, low ground with a high water table turns soggy and stays that way. The goal is soil that holds moisture in summer without drowning plants all winter. We handle that with grading and drainage, and by putting moisture-loving plants in the wet zones instead of fighting them.
Get one of these wrong and part of the yard fails. Getting all four right, and matching the right plant to the right spot, is the whole job out here, and it is what we plan for on every property.
Signs Your Property Needs More Than Basic Yard Work
A lot of yards on the Peninsula are getting mowed and blown when the real problems are underneath. Watch for these, because they do not fix themselves.
Standing water or soggy ground that lingers for days after the rain stops
Lawn that keeps thinning out, going mossy, or growing patchy no matter how often it is cut
Plants browning off or dying on the side that faces the wind or the water
Erosion, bare sandy patches, or soil washing toward the house
Beds that have gone to weeds, blackberry, gorse, or scotch broom
A yard with no wind protection on an exposed lot
Drainage that dumps water toward the foundation instead of away from it
Storm debris and downed limbs piling up after every blow
If any of that sounds like your place, it is a planning and drainage problem, not a mowing problem, and it pays to get it looked at before the next wet season sets in.
From First Walkthrough to Finished Yard
From the first call to the final walkthrough, the job runs in clear steps.
Free consultation and estimate. We come out, walk the property, and talk through what you want and what the site can support. You get an honest read on what it needs.
Plan and options. We lay out the design, the plant choices, the drainage, and the hardscape, and we walk you through materials, upkeep, and phasing so you can decide with your eyes open.
Written estimate. You get a clear scope before any work starts. No surprises and no pressure.
Site prep. We handle grading, drainage, and soil work first, because everything planted on top depends on getting the ground right.
Installation. Our own crew does the planting, hardscape, and structures, built for coastal exposure, with nothing handed off to subcontractors.
Cleanup and walkthrough. We leave the site clean and walk you through everything we did, plus how to keep it healthy or how we can keep it up for you.
Common Landscaping Questions
What plants survive salt air and wind on the Long Beach Peninsula?
Plenty do, once you match them to the site. Tough salt-hardy plants like escallonia, ceanothus, pyracantha, and Pacific wax myrtle stand up well and make good windward buffers and hedges. Behind that shelter you can grow a much wider range. The key is putting the hardy plants where the salt and wind hit hardest and protecting the softer ones behind them.
How do you fix a soggy yard or standing water in our wet coastal climate?
We start by working out where the water comes from and where it needs to go. Depending on the property, that means grading, French drains, catch basins, channel drains, or a rain garden that soaks up runoff. On the coast, this is one of the first things to fix because nothing else in the yard holds up if the ground stays wet.
Can you build up sandy coastal soil so plants actually grow?
Yes. Sand drains fast and holds very little, so we build fertility into it with compost and organic matter, mulch to keep moisture in, and raised beds where they make sense. It is a repeat process on sand rather than a one-time fix.
Do you provide a landscape design plan before the work starts?
Yes. You get a plan for the property, plant choices suited to your site, hardscape ideas where needed, and a phased plan so you can build it all at once or in stages.
Do you offer year-round maintenance, including for vacation and second homes?
Yes. A lot of Peninsula owners are not here every week, so we keep properties mowed, fed, tidied, and watched over on a schedule.
Do you install patios, walkways, retaining walls, and drainage?
Yes. Hardscape and drainage are core parts of coastal landscaping here. Hard surfaces stay usable when the lawn is wet, and good drainage keeps the yard from turning into a bog.
Do you handle storm cleanup after windstorms?
Yes. We clear downed limbs, branches, and debris after Pacific windstorms and get the property back in shape.
When is the best time to start a landscaping project on the coast?
The design and planning stage can happen anytime. Planting timing depends on what is going in, and drainage or hardscape work can often be done in seasons when planting cannot.
Are you licensed and insured?
Yes. Christensen Coastal Construction LLC is fully licensed and insured in Washington State.
Where We Landscape on the Peninsula
We cover the Long Beach Peninsula and the nearby Pacific County communities.
Ocean Park, our home base
Long Beach
Ilwaco
Seaview
Naselle
Chinook
The rest of the Long Beach Peninsula
Not sure whether you are in range? Call and ask, and if we can get there, we will help.